Friday, February 15, 2013

COMC haul #40: brought to you by the letter "J" and the number 10

Well, we're getting pretty near the end of my COMC haul from last year; after today I should have three posts left! I promise I'll try not to let things drag on quite this long next time.

Today I have for you the last J.J. Putz cards from this haul. Please enjoy the following ten cards:

Donruss Signature Century Proofs Gold (#21/25)

Not terribly different from the autographed version I have, but Proof cards rarely are these days. I find it funny that none of the "Century" proof cards is numbered to 100.

2005 Playoff Prestige auto

This is a pretty nice autograph--the signed version of his base card I have. If you look at this card along with the previous and next ones, you'll notice a trend with many of Panini's 2005 sets: take the base card, add a sticker auto, and boom, you have your autographed version of that set. It may not be terribly inspired, but it works fine. It's just a shame they did that with so many of their sets that year. Still, I very much like what I have here.

2005 Studio auto

2005 Studio Proofs Gold (#11/25)

See what I mean? This is sort of a repeat from the first two cards: the autograph is just a sticker version of the base, while the Proof is a very slight variation of the base. The skyline background is fantastic, though, but it makes me wonder why they didn't do the Space Needle?

2007 Topps Heritage Chrome (#0486/1958)

J.J., YOU GET OUT OF THOSE BUBBLES RIGHT NOW! Count me in as a fan of Heritage Chrome cards--for some reason, the vintage design combined with Chrome just works.

2007 Topps Update All-Star Stitches dual jersey

The last hit of the day is this All-Star Game jersey "patch." Whatever you say, Topps.... I don't care that it's not really a patch, though, since the orange swatch looks pretty sweet. This card is extra special to me since it celebrates J.J.'s only All-Star selection to-date. He actually pitched pretty poorly that game, allowing a 2-run shot to Alfonso Soriano in the 8th, but still managed to earn a hold when Francisco Rodriguez nailed down the save in the 9th for the victorious A.L.

2008 Topps Allen and Ginter Mini Black

There's so many A&G sets with so many different versions of minis, it's hard for me to keep track of which ones I have! While I have more on the way, this is actually my first 2008 version. I like that the variation is on the front instead of the back, so I don't have to scan the latter! The black looks pretty nice here, so I'll give this one a thumbs up.

2008 Topps Allen and Ginter Rip Card (#78/99)

Now here's one of the more unique cards in any of my PCs! I didn't think I'd find one of these so easily, not to mention at such a reasonable price. The caveat is that this card HAS been ripped, but you can only tell by looking at the back, and the original owner did a nice job of not hacking the card up to death. I'm also glad that the person did rip it because it just seems like a waste to let a potentially good card stay in there forever, especially when you can still enjoy both. Is this card still mint? Who the hell cares! Definitely a fun pickup.

2008 Upper Deck Premier (#28/99)

If this set seems oddly familiar to you, that's because I have fellow Wolverine Rich Hill's version as well. It's funny that we're to the point where having a base card numbered to just 99 copies doesn't really make anyone bat an eyelash. These really often are treated like any other base card, and I got both Hill's and Putz's for surprisingly little. UD did a nice job picking a photo of him during the follow-through of his delivery, and the light blue on the bottom works nicely with the other colors in the photo.

2008 Upper Deck

Today's last card is nothing special: "just" a base card. But it's yet another example of some terrific UD photography and design. That's a great photo of Putz during his pitching motion, and as always, I applaud Upper Deck for their full-bleed design, and in this case, the non-busy front. Just sit back and enjoy that photo with its outstanding colors!

Now it's stats time. The two autos and jersey give me eight different Putz hits (including the three plates), and these 10 cards overall give J.J. a new IHAS count of 51 (plus, again, the three plates), so there's a new milestone for him. I can already tell you right now that my latest package will more than double that total, but I'll do my best not to spread those out over something like 10 posts!